The smoke twisted and turned across the sky in a fluffy white cotton candy stream. I didn’t know what it was supposed to look like – should it look like this? I looked to my teacher’s eyes and I knew – something was wrong. The Challenger was broken.

But there I sat among the neat rows of 4th graders, in our Crayola-colored chairs, waiting for the explanation. Instead, we heard gasps on location in Florida. And we stared in silence at the television cart that only minutes before had been wheeled in for the momentous occasion.

For weeks we’d talked about the Challenger’s impending launch. Christa McAullife would be on board — a curly-haired, common school teacher whose smiling face we’d come to recognize. We’d read about her selection in our Weekly Reader and watched video of her training at Space Camp. And now she was . . …

Just featured on NBC’s Dateline! Like us on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/BattleatKrugerhttp://www.BattleAtKruger.comhttp://www.negativespace.com Copyright: NegativeSpace Media Winner! YouTube’s Best Eyewitness Video. A battle between a pride of lions, a herd of buffalo, and 2 crocodiles at a watering hole in South Africa’s Kruger National Park while on safari. COPYRIGHT NOTICE. For licensing opportunities, please visit http://www.BattleAtKruger.com. This video is copyrighted and cannot be used before live audiences or through any form of mass media without the express permission of Jason Schlosberg or David Budzinski. Its use via YouTube is intended for personal use only and can only be viewed on YouTube and websites using the YouTube embed code. Any other use of the video or its screen captures violate this copyright. Featured on National Geographic, Animal Planet, ABC, and MSNBC!

So I am calling the rendering 80ish% finished. I stepped away for a while to work on Jellie but I picked it back up today and got it to a place I am happy with. I want to rework some of the UV’s around the eye socket so the texture is less noticeably stretched and then I will maybe add some reflected light from the water surface on the sand. Not sure about that one since this is more of a stylistic rendering but I think it will also be a great way for me to experiment with this for Jellie since the tank/room will need lots of effect lighting. Oh! I also need to add some graphics to his loot and then maybe some sand dollars on the floor.